"Goat-Aid" Station

[Saph]

In mid-September, we volunteered to staff an aid station during a 100-mile ultra marathon, the Idaho Mountain Trail Ultra Festival (IMTUF 100), near McCall Idaho (http://imtuf100.com).  Our 4 boys were joined by fellow goat packer Harriet Aiken, with her 4 goats. Our 8 goats packed in all the supplies for the runners, including snacks, 1st aid items, camp stools & chairs, for those who wanted to sit down & take a short break.
   

Our aid station was located at mile 75 of the 100-mile course. We hiked in 5 miles one-way, up 2000' and down 1000', where we set up our remote aid station & waited for the  runners to arrive. The first runners showed up around 1130 PM & about 60 more came  through during the course of the night. The runners really appreciated our efforts, & seeing the goats was a real morale boost, especially after they had been running for nearly 100 miles. I took photos of each runner with our goats, as they came through, & some of the folks are even using my photos for their Facebook profile photos.
               
The next morning, we packed everything up & hiked back out.
   
 I placed a donation jar at the finish line/after race party area, & forwarded the proceeds to the North American Pack Goat Association (NAPgA).
   
Although we were quite tired at the end of our shift, it was extremely fun, not to mention a great chance to spread the word about the benefits & capabilities of pack goats & using goats as pack stock in so many situations! 
Feel free to contact me if you ever want to do something similar to this in your local area--Saph

[Nanno]

This is so cool! I want to bring goats to one of these next year.

[Saph]

It really was a rewarding experience!  We also staffed an aid station in July, for a 40-mile trail run, The McCall Trail Running Classic.  The aid station was about a 2.5 mile one-way hike, and (fortunately) all the runners came through during daylight, so it was less of a commitment as far as time went.  Here are a few photos from that experience:
Arriving at the aid station…a member of the local ham radio club hiked in with us as well, and set up her antenna on the ridge above our aid station, in case of emergencies:
   
One of the runners posing with Skippy, good thing we have a goat that is a bit of a "ham" himself!  
   
The last runners to come through, just as we were packing up.  I believe this guy was 68 years old!
   
The runners appreciated the volunteers so much.  And we had so much fun, too!--Saph

[Taffy]

That is an awesome PR for the packgoats and I'll bet the highlight of the race for participants! Great job Saph!

[nebs]

So cool! What a great way to represent packgoats! Thanks for sharing!

[sdgoatlady]

I bet you and your goats brought so much joy to those runners that day!!!!  Congratulations for doing such a great thing and thank you for sharing it with us!!!

[Charlie Horse]

Those are some big, awesome looking pack goats. I like to hear about this kind of publicity! Its fun to have some kind of mission... I may look in to doing something like this one of these days.